Whitehall John, McCulloch Rebecca, Edwards Matthew, McDonald Jenny
School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
J Paediatr Child Health. 2015 Aug;51(8):798-801. doi: 10.1111/jpc.12831. Epub 2015 Feb 12.
Over 200 000 Australian children suffer significant disability. How should medical students be prepared for this challenge? Community engagement has become fundamental to education, but there is little experience with engagement of undergraduates with children with disabilities. This paper reviews such experience in Western Sydney.
Since 2011, UWS paediatric students have been rotated through local special schools for 2 weeks each term. In 2013, feedback was solicited in a questionnaire from the 129 students involved that year with 109 being returned. It had been solicited from school staff and parents in formal and informal communication from the beginning.
Fourteen per cent of students reported no prior exposure to disabled children: 55% only chance, 24% regular and 7% extensive. Thirty-seven per cent reported greatly increased understanding: 39% moderately, 15% somewhat, 7% a little and 2% not. Forty-three per cent declared understanding of impact on family greatly increased: 40% moderately, 11% somewhat, 5% a little and 1% not. Twenty-seven per cent declared greatly increased knowledge of services, 43% moderately, 25% somewhat, 4% a little and 1% none. Fifteen per cent declared greatly increased preparation for caring, 44% moderately, 30% somewhat, 6% a little and 5% none. Thirty-six per cent declared greatly increased understanding of role of schools, 30% moderately, 20% somewhat, 10% a little, and 2% none and 2% cannot recall. School staff and parents reported very favourably. Problems involved professionalism in students and some fatigue in parents.
The engagement has been successful. Professionalism has been emphasised, and rotations have been designed to prevent fatigue.
超过20万澳大利亚儿童患有严重残疾。医学生应如何应对这一挑战？社区参与已成为教育的基础，但本科生与残疾儿童的接触经验很少。本文回顾了悉尼西部的此类经验。
自2011年以来，西悉尼大学的儿科学生每学期在当地特殊学校轮转2周。2013年，通过问卷调查向当年参与的129名学生征求反馈，共收回109份。从一开始就在正式和非正式交流中向学校工作人员和家长征求反馈。
14%的学生表示之前没有接触过残疾儿童：55%有过一次接触机会，24%经常接触，7%有广泛接触。37%的学生表示理解能力大幅提高：39%适度提高，15%略有提高，7%稍有提高，2%没有提高。43%的学生表示对家庭影响的理解大幅提高：40%适度提高，11%略有提高，5%稍有提高，1%没有提高。27%的学生表示对服务的了解大幅增加，43%适度增加，25%略有增加，4%稍有增加，1%没有增加。15%的学生表示照顾准备能力大幅提高，44%适度提高，30%略有提高，6%稍有提高，5%没有提高。36%的学生表示对学校作用的理解大幅提高，30%适度提高，20%略有提高，10%稍有提高，2%没有提高，2%记不清。学校工作人员和家长给予了非常积极的评价。问题包括学生的专业素养以及家长的一些疲劳。
这种接触取得了成功。强调了专业素养，并设计了轮转安排以防止疲劳。
